Nitish,Naveen and Mamata in talks on federal front

“I do not want any important position and I am not in the race for PM. I extend my full support to any such front. Let us get it rolling,” Kumar is said to have told Patnaik’s confidant,sources told The Indian Express.

The move came as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee,who came up with the idea of the federal front last week,Wednesday floated the idea of an eastern regional front comprising her Trinamool Congress,JD(U),Biju Janata Dal and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) as a prelude to the federal front.

Mamata broached the idea to JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi,a close confidant of party chief Sharad Yadav,who called on her in Kolkata Tuesday. After the meeting,Banerjee said she had already talked to Yadav and Nitish Kumar,Babulal Marandi of JVM and Naveen Patnaik.

In a post on her Facebook page last week,Banerjee had urged all non-Congress,non-BJP parties to come together and form an alliance to win power at the Centre.

“I received a good response to my Facebook post. In politics things change. There are the UPA and the NDA alliances but nothing is permanent in politics. I have talked to people like Naveenji,Nitishji etc and we will have talks further,” Banerjee said.

Tyagi said Mamata wants things to materialise fast as she felt general elections could be held in November. “We came for a courtesy visit. Didi had a request and we met her. She is of the opinion that the Lok Sabha elections will be held in November and she wants things to take shape fast. She wants a regional front to come fast and then that can be converted into a national front. We are still with the NDA and on June 15 we are meeting in Patna to discuss our next strategy,’’ Tyagi told The Indian Express.

Naveen Patnaik is believed to have told Banerjee that he would get back to her tomorrow.

Sources in Patna said Kumar,who has kept the Congress guessing about a possible pre-poll alliance,is more open to the idea of a third front as such a front would allow his party to be an equal partner instead of being subservient to any national party.

“If regional satraps can keep aside their egos,such a front should work effectively. We are looking at the possibility of being a front that can win at least 60-80 Lok Sabha seats and tilt the power balance. If the political situation forces the BJP to rule out Narendra Modi from the post of PM after 2014,this front can be open to the BJP as much as it could be to the Congress,” a senior JD(U) leader said.

Sources in the Bihar CM’s house,however,said it was too early to talk about forging such a front as leaders with divergent interests should first come together and formulate a common agenda.

BJD sources said Patnaik was not averse to the idea of a third front as it would offer him a national role to play in the 2014 polls. “At the same time,he wants to keep his options open for extracting the most in a changed political scenario in 2014,” one BJD source said. – with inputs from Debabrata Mohanty in Bhubaneswar